The blues world lost one of its greats this past June, Koko Taylor. She was born in Shelby County, just outside of Memphis, eighty years ago, and spent the majority of that time on earth singing the blues in a distinctive style. She inspired many artists, male and female alike, and received countless awards. Take a little time and get to know Koko if you don't know her, and celebrate her life and legacy if you do.
Download this tribute here.

Our post Memphis in May Beale Street Music Festival show. We talk about the acts we saw during 3 rain drenched days "down by the river" at Tom Lee Park. Some of the acts we saw - Steve Miller Band, Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor, Snoop Dogg, Elvis Costello, Shine Down along with some great blues acts - Tommy Castro, Guitar Shorty, John Mayall and the Blues Breakers, Richard Johnston and many others.

We also fire up the BBQ and have a meat fest - Thick Pork Chop sandwiches, Kielbasa and cheese plates, Chicken in white barbecue sauce and lots of slabs of ribs.

This show is soooooo epic ("how epic is it?") - it took two days to record. Dick, Mike and John start off discussing a few preshow beverages - Mikes Homebrewed Maibock and a Unibroue La Terrible at 10.5%.

The first beer is one of the most intense beers brewed today - the Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA at 18%-20% ABV! This bitter sweet beverage has a long history with us at BigFoamyHead.com!

The second segment starts with a Dogfish Head World Wide Stout at 18%. At this point the high octane takes it's toll on your intrepid podcasters and the third segment was lost. Play a dirge for the lost audio... actually, it's usually better when we lose these later segments.

Rick recovers from his hangover and joins live in the "new and improved" third segment. Where we enjoy another classic - the 2007 Alaskan Smoked Porter. Preshow beers include Boulder Brewing Company's Hazed and Infused, Mikes Dry Stout homebrew and a Clarkehead Black Cat Stout.

Remember the Chris Farley Show interviews on Saturday Night Live? Remember those? Those were awesome. Remember when we interviewed James Watt at the GABF World Brewers Forum? Remember that? That was awesome.

We are reliving that moment by enjoying some awesome Brew Dog beers. Dick and Mike warm up with a home Brewed Milk Stout then get swept away by a RipTide twisted merciless stout. Rick starts with a bomber of Punk IPA, a post modern classic pale ale, then is caught in a Storm - a very unique Islay Whisky Cask Aged IPA.

Add some music from Tommy Castro, a tax related Beer Haiku and you have an episode of BigFoamyHead.

Back to beer. We start this show with Avery Brewing Companies Brabant. A very nice sour ale aged in Mephistopheles Wine Barrels from Norman Vineyards. It's Avery's first barrel aged beer in what will hopefully be a long line of beers to come.

Then we follow up with some nice German beers - Weltenburger Kloster Barock Dunkel, Weltenburger Kloster Asam Bock and Schwanenbrau Das Schwarze. Mike cracks open a homebrewed Three Hearted Ale (Northern Brewer kit), followed by a Sam Adams Imperial Wit.

Music by the late Willie King, Alabama blues man.

Class and culture includes a book review of The Heroin Diaries by Nikki Sixx and Beer Haiku.

Dust off your bag pipes and your kilt with your family tartan. We're heading to Scotland... well, we're drinking Scottish Ales made with Spruce Tips, Gooseberries, Heather and the ever popular Bog Myrtle. Just in time for the end of the hop shortage scare of 2008.

We have a new segment called «Buy That Man a Beer.» Our first honoree is Capt Sullenberger. We were given early access to the black box recording, so you don't want to miss this!

In the second segment Rick recounts his lost interviews from the Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines Festival in Vail Colorado.

We get to sample some really great beers this show from a very talented Danish Brewer. Mikkel Borg Bjergsø is running Mikkeller as a one man operation. Mikkel is a «gipsy-brewer» - he rents into breweries, brewing in Denmark, around Europe and the United States.

We also recorded the Christmas Beer Tasting from the KROC annual party. Scott Jackson did a great job presenting the beers - post here.

About...

What the hell is a Big Foamy Head? It's a beer podcast, yo. Take a lot of beer, three guys from Memphis and Denver, and put microphones in front of them. The result is Big Foamy Head. One of the oldest beer podcasts on the web, BFH brings you the Memphis lifestyle of Beer, Blues and Barbecue. It's a dirty job, but somebody has to do it.

Latest comments

Phil: Hey guys. Finally getting a chance to catch up on your show. I found time to brew this weekened, so I listened to this show on my iPod as I made my IPA - a first for me. The Brabant sounds fantastic. Rick was kind enough to send members of the...

admin: I notice the media is just now getting the tower audio. BFH really scooped this story! We had the black box recording the weekend after the crash! :)

Phil: Rick, I can't believe you lost your interviews. That is very unprofessional! :-) Sorry to hear about that, but at least you have a butt load of very strong beer to blame it on. I love beers like gruits that use herbs instead of hops. Alaskan Brewing makes a winter...

Phil: I have no idea how you guys landed these beers, as I've never seen them (and believe me, I've looked). Sounds like the brewer is as advertised though. Interesting that he uses flaked oats in these beers - it's an ingredient we don't see a lot of. I'm sure it helps add...